opinions please...

I have been told over the years that's its best to hunt with good moist soil...but the other day I was talking to an older gentleman that said he had been detecting for over thirty years. He was telling me that this dry soil is the best to hunt in. I'm in Illinois and its dry...very..very..very dry here. I heard the other night on the weather we ar now nine inches behind on rainfall for this year.

Anyways....your opinions please. Also if you would state why you believe its better one way more than the other.

And the reason I'm asking this is because I've been doing some hunting lately at the local fair grounds which happen to date back to 1851 and even had a regiment from the civil war train on the grounds. Well....about five years ago I went through with a Garrett GTI 2500 I was using at the time and found nothing but a ton of clad. This time I'm using my Etrac and the results are much better than before.

You have a much better detector now for one thing. On the soil....wet or dry.....a lot will depend on the detector, settings, and the mineralization of the ground. Wet mineralized ground is hard to penetrate with some detectors but easy for others and vice versa.

I have been told over the years that's its best to hunt with good moist soil...but the other day I was talking to an older gentleman that said he had been detecting for over thirty years. He was telling me that this dry soil is the best to hunt in. I'm in Illinois and its dry...very..very..very dry here. I heard the other night on the weather we ar now nine inches behind on rainfall for this year.

Anyways....your opinions please. Also if you would state why you believe its better one way more than the other.

And the reason I'm asking this is because I've been doing some hunting lately at the local fair grounds which happen to date back to 1851 and even had a regiment from the civil war train on the grounds. Well....about five years ago I went through with a Garrett GTI 2500 I was using at the time and found nothing but a ton of clad. This time I'm using my Etrac and the results are much better than before.

You will hit on deep targets better in wet ground, but in really dry ground where there's lots of iron there will be less halo affect from the iron so you might hit targets that was previously hidden by the iron. All in all I'd rather detect in moist ground and spring time always seems the best for me as I seem to get targets deeper that time of the year than any other. HH

You will hit on deep targets better in wet ground, but in really dry ground where there's lots of iron there will be less halo affect from the iron so you might hit targets that was previously hidden by the iron. All in all I'd rather detect in moist ground and spring time always seems the best for me as I seem to get targets deeper that time of the year than any other. HH

It is best to hunt when ever you can get away from the ole lady. Damp ground or dry. The best way to increase your finds per hour is to overlap your sweeps by 50% and keep the coil level through out the whole sweep.

The whole reason I asked this question was because I've been doing some hunting at the local fair grounds...this place dates back to 1851 and an Illinois infantry unit trained on the grounds for the civil war. Its is said that they tore the ground up so badly that the fair had to be cancelled the following year.

Anyways....this place had been pounded had over the years and I'm funding silver right out in the same location that they set the rides up for the fair every year. And it just so happens we are in the middle of the worst drought in this area since the 1800"s. The place is pretty trashy in some areas and most if what I'm finding is eight around 4-6 inches down. I even hit the place a few years back with a Garrett 2500 and didn't find any silver. Now...using my Etrac I'm finding silver.....

The whole reason I asked this question was because I've been doing some hunting at the local fair grounds...this place dates back to 1851 and an Illinois infantry unit trained on the grounds for the civil war. Its is said that they tore the ground up so badly that the fair had to be cancelled the following year.

Anyways....this place had been pounded had over the years and I'm funding silver right out in the same location that they set the rides up for the fair every year. And it just so happens we are in the middle of the worst drought in this area since the 1800"s. The place is pretty trashy in some areas and most if what I'm finding is eight around 4-6 inches down. I even hit the place a few years back with a Garrett 2500 and didn't find any silver. Now...using my Etrac I'm finding silver.....

Is this a grassy area? The reason I ask is the people who take care of the grounds may not like seeing holes in the ground. It is almost impossible to dig decent plugs on rock hard dirt.

[QUOTE=wingmaster;2888303]You will hit on deep targets better in wet ground
That's not always true. It will depend on the type of mineralization there is in the ground and the type of detector you have. Take a single frequency VLF detector to a salt water beach and you'll get much better depth in the dry sand than wet, especially if there is lots of iron particles.

Grassy area....in this heat?? What little grass that was before the fair is now stomped down brown grass and dirt. We've only had a little over an inch of rain here in the last three months or so. I don't think the grass is going to be an issue....

Grassy area....in this heat?? What little grass that was before the fair is now stomped down brown grass and dirt. We've only had a little over an inch of rain here in the last three months or so. I don't think the grass is going to be an issue....

Then dig up that silver. What you doing here. Sounds like you may need a chisel. Just curious are there water use restrictions there.